Chapter 11

chapter

eleven

JD

She's freaking out.

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm not enjoying that. Do I wish we could skip this wedding and just stay at my place and I could lose myself in her body? Yes, that is exactly what I wish. But that'll have to wait a little while longer.

I still have the taste of her kiss on my lips and I know I will never get enough of her.

Before she arrived, I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the situation with her. Yell at her for lying to me for so long? For robbing us of the time we could have been together?

Then I saw her standing at my door. Her gaze greedily devouring my body. I knew right then what I needed to do. The perfect plan to show her that none of that matters. What matters is she's here now. And I'm never going to let her go.

"So, uh, whose wedding is this?" she asks.

"Buddy from growing up. Dane Whitmore. He actually runs this amazing place called Great Dane's Dog Sanctuary where they take in dogs from kill shelters. He's got a huge piece of land so the pups can all roam safely."

"That does sound amazing. Do you, uh, do you like dogs?"

"Love them. Cats too, actually. My sisters always had cats." I smile at her, reach over and cover her hand with mine. I want to blurt it all out now. Tell her how much I love her, more than cats and dogs combined. But I need to be patient and play this out.

"Are you sure I'm dressed okay?" she asks. "I wasn't planning on going anywhere tonight."

"You look gorgeous." I squeeze her hand. "Dane and his soon-to-be wife asked that in lieu of wedding gifts, people make a donation to the Great Dane nonprofit. Evidently, several of his former military buddies are moving down here to run it with him. Train some of the dogs to help with PTSD. Hayes and I made a donation in the company's name."

"Wow."

"That's actually where the wedding is. Which is why it's more casual. Outside in Texas in the not quite fall, the weather can be temperamental."

"A single day of weather in the state of Texas can go through all four seasons," she says.

"Precisely."

"I'm sorry if I'm crashing your friend's wedding."

"You're not. You're my plus-one."

Now and for the rest of our lives, you'll be my plus-one.

I pull my truck down the dirt road that leads to Dane's property.

I can see the large white tent set up in the closest field. White folding chairs form rows beneath the covering.

"The weather is actually perfect for an outdoor wedding," Chelsea says.

I put the truck in park, then walk to her side. I give her a brief kiss on the lips as I help her down.

She narrows her eyes at me. "You're being weird."

Instead of answering or explaining, I just wink at her. Then I thread our fingers together and lead her towards the tent. I already texted Hayes to tell him to just go with whatever I say or do tonight. He didn't even ask questions, just said "of course."

I wave to a few people as we move towards the seating area.

Chelsea grabs onto my arm and squeezes. "Oh my God! Is that Jess Munoz over there?" She nods towards the front of the aisle.

"Oh, yeah, she's married to Dane's older brother, Grady." I point to another group of people off to our right. "Do you know who Micah Stone is?"

"The country singer? Holy shit!" She puts a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, that was probably too loud. Why are there so many famous people here? I mean, I know that one of Charlie's soon-to-be sisters-in-law is married to Mason Ball from Soul Obsession." She looks up at me, her expression full of pure joy.

"Yeah, he's marrying Luna. Dane's fiancée is actually Luna's sister, Shelby."

"Of course. How could I forget? Charlie was so upset her doctor put her on bedrest. She wanted to come to the wedding. Max refused to go without her. Thankfully, his sisters understood." She glances over at me. "I keep forgetting that you and Max are from the same small town. Kinda weird, don't you think?"

"Or perfect. Depends on how you look at things."

I lead us to seats where Hayes and his wife, Rory, are already sitting down. Hayes jumps up when he sees Chelsea and pulls her into a hug.

"So great to see you. Chelsea, this is my beautiful wife, Rory."

The women exchange greetings, then we sit on the other side of the couple.

"No kids tonight?" I ask Rory.

"No. Mama needed a break. They're with my sister, Ava, and her husband, Remi. They're in town for a couple of weeks while he's in between missions."

"He's in the service?" I ask.

"SEALs. But yeah, he's still on active duty. I don't think for too much longer, though. He's itching to move back home so they can start a family." She leans forward to see around my body. "It is really nice to finally meet you in person, Chelsea. I've heard so much about you, I feel like I know you."

Chelsea smiles and they chat back and forth for a bit. I take the opportunity to put my hand on Chelsea's back. Being able to touch her, feel the warmth of her skin, everything about it is right to me. The seats around us fill in, and I introduce Chelsea as my girlfriend. She gasps the first couple of times I say it, but by the third or fourth time I repeat it, she just rolls her eyes.

Some of Hayes's siblings end up sitting in front of us, including his sister, Madison.

She turns to me, smiles wide. "If it isn't my favorite hottie."

"Mads, please don't start that," Hayes says.

"I think it's funny," Rory says.

"Aside from you, dear brother," she says to Hayes. "It is accurate. Where are the other hotties tonight?"

"Hotties?" Chelsea asks from my side.

"Ohhh, I don't know you." Madison glares at me. "Why don't I know her, James ?"

She says my name in that knowing way. It's my turn to roll my eyes.

"Trouble, behave," her husband, the sheriff, says.

She leans over and kisses his mouth. "Do you even hear yourself? I can't behave. Not yet. I have work to do." Then she holds a hand out to Chelsea. "I'm Madison Burton, formally Crawford. This is my husband, Caleb."

Chelsea is about to speak, but I interrupt and do the introductions myself.

"This is my girlfriend, Chelsea."

Madison's brows raise. "Girlfriend? Why haven't I heard about this before now? Is it new?"

"Very," Chelsea mutters under her breath.

I smile. "No, we've been together three years now." I lift our entwined fingers and bring her hand to my mouth for a kiss.

"How did this happen?" Madison asks. She reaches over and smacks her brother's knee. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You don't need to know everything, Mads," Hayes says.

Madison turns her attention back to me. "Tell me everything."

"She works for H & J," I start. "It was her first day of work and I saw her across the room." I look over at Chelsea. "I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. We were introduced and we shook hands."

"And I felt sparks the moment our skin touched," Chelsea says.

"Exactly." I look back at Hayes's sister. "I didn't ask her out right away. I knew someone had told her about Brenda." I make a scary face.

"She was a straight-up lunatic," Madison says.

"True. But that's not the story most people at the office know. They just know that after she and I, uh, went out, she was fired."

"Well yeah, you don't want to ask someone out at the office after they've heard that story," Madison confirms.

"Exactly. So I was smooth. I moved her into my office and made her my personal assistant. Well, that was her title, but it was really about mentoring her. She's brilliant and I knew she would benefit from working directly with the accounts instead of waiting to work her way up the chain."

Hayes laughs. "Dude, you were anything but smooth. The other guys and I knew you were head over ass in love when you texted Helen to buy a desk over the weekend."

I don't even deny it. I just shrug.

Chelsea looks up at me, questions and something else heating her eyes.

"Anyways, after we'd worked together for a couple of months and I knew she felt comfortable in her job security, I asked her out. Initially, she wanted to keep our romance a secret. Didn't want to develop a reputation."

"No one wants to be that girl," Chelsea says. "The one he earns her way that way."

"So she made me work for it. But all that time, I'd paid close attention to everything about her. I wooed her with coffee, special monthly snacks and Terminator memorabilia." I look back at my girl. "I never wanted her to doubt, for a moment, that I was in this for good."

Her breath shudders. And then Dane and the preacher walk up to the makeshift altar at the front of all the chairs.

"You can tell me more later," Madison says. "So nice to meet you, Chelsea."

"Nice to meet you too. I still want to know about this ‘hottie' thing," Chelsea says.

"Oh, for sure. I'll give you all the details."

The music starts and Luna walks down the aisle, then the Wedding March begins and we all get to our feet. I wrap my arm around Chelsea, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

Then we watch as Dane and Shelby promise to love each other forever. And I can't wait to do the same thing with Chelsea.